#KSwx

[imfuckingwasted]

A dark Kansas rest stop

Harvey County, KS (2023)

x

[lyrakatz]

"I close my eyes

Only for a moment, and the moment's gone

All my dreams

Pass before my eyes, a curiosity"

~Dust in the Wind, Kansas

In the summer of 2021 I moved to Winfield Kansas, to an apartment on the outskirts of town. Behind the minuscule back "yard" of this apartment there was a field, and across the field was a stately cottonwood tree towering over the trees that surrounded it. I fell in love. I can't tell you why, but I thought this tree was beautiful. Worthy of photographing. Not just once, but over and over and over.

Through Tornado Alley's storms and rain and wind, while the field was full of golden wheat, with fires blazing behind it - lighting up the night, and even when the aurora borealis crept far enough south to be visible even in Kansas. For 3 years I photographed this tree what has to be well over 100 times (even if far fewer of those photos actually have been shared). I always told myself I'd keep photographing this tree until it fell … or until I finally moved away.

Well, thankfully, the thing that stopped me was the latter, and not the former. As of summer 2024 I am no longer living in Winfield Kansas. I no longer get to see my Tree-Across-the-Field every day. I can't say I'm not sad about it. That tree has become a core part of my photography, and my photography is a core part of myself. I'm going to miss it.

Anyway, enough rambling. A few days before the move, we were inundated with severe weather. All of the meteorological ingredients were present for a tornado outbreak, and a PDS (particularly dangerous situation) Tornado Watch was issued for Winfield (and much of the surrounding area). When the weather picks up I often end up looking out across the field to see if I can make out anything interesting, and on that day I was rewarded with a sight I'd never seen in my time living there. Days earlier the field betwixt me and my tree had been plowed, so when the pre-storm winds started to pick up, they carried the loose Kansas dirt with them in every direction. Still photos fail to do it justice, but still photos are all I have. Still photos are what I love. And here's what will (almost certainly) be my last photo of that tree across the field. Mine only for a moment, and the moment's gone.

More Tree-Across-the-Field: https://art.katzeye.me/Projects/The-Tree-Across-the-Field

[skyecoaiart]

Desert Wave

[omgitsrenn]

The potential for #severe #storms is still on the table for this Sunday between the late afternoon hours through most of the overnight hours. The primary hazards from #thunderstorm activity now look to be damaging #winds and large #hail, followed by the potential for torrential and #flooding #rainfall; the risk for #tornadoes is less likely, but an isolated #tornado or two also cannot be ruled out entirely. There is also a chance that the worst of the #thunderstorms (or even the entirety of the #storm system) could completely pass by to our south. Be safe! #KsWX #IctWX #KsStorms #WichitaWX (at Wichita, Kansas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpDGSupr660/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thespice-orahnge]

[raychelsnr]

With spring right around the corner views, like this could become a reality in tornado alley. 5/24/16 Dodge City, KS 📷 @brettwrightphoto #kswx #weather #nature

[221btardisimpalawithloki]

Chapter 3: Dirty little secrets, pretty little lies

Dean gets through the 7 a.m. newscast entirely on autopilot. To cover for having shitcanned their fucking meteorologist, they've filled time with some recycled VOSOT with Dean reading the scripted voice-over before the sound on tape played. Instead of a forecast, they had Jo smile sweetly and announce clear weather from now until the end of the month.

Which doesn't sound right, but what the fuck is he going to do, call her out on air and go off-script for a second time this morning? So all he can do is chuckle and tell viewers to still keep an umbrella handy, because you never know. And then that was it, time to come up with pitches before the 9 a.m. all-staff meeting. And not get fired, or any more outed than he already was. All to serve the good people of Kansas their Thursday morning newscast.

Dean'd been at his desk with his third cup of coffee for all of five minutes when Naomi came to summon him to her office. What's worse, she'd worn kid gloves the entire time.

Naomi's office was sterile, lit up in fluorescent lights with white Scandinavian furnishings. It was the only office in the building that managed to escape the Office Space-eclectic energy of an underfunded corporate-owned TV station. Dean sat his ass on the tiny plastic chair and begged not to break it.

Naomi leaned across her desk and gave her best version of a reassuring smile. It wasn't very convincing.

"Dean," she started. "I want you to know, you did an admirable job on set this morning."

"What?" Dean asked.

Naomi sighed. "To be sexually harassed like that, on live television, is truly awful. You were able to recover and smile through it. Not many would be."

Dean couldn't control what his eyebrows were doing. "I wasn't--"

"Dean," Naomi cut in. "I've been a woman in television for more than 30 years. There is no shame in being harassed. You didn't do anything wrong today."

Dean could only nod.

"I'm especially impressed you were able to stay neutral, considering the… nature, of your harasser."

"What do you mean?" Dean asked.

Naomi twisted her lips. "People like that, who spread their message to people who shouldn't have to hear it, and won't rest until we all agree. To do that to a captive audience of one, in front of a captive audience of thousands? I just can't see how someone could take pride in it."

Dean laughed a little. Anything to get out of this conversation. "This might make good content, at least. Teach our audience how to tell what is and isn't harassment. Because I think I'd know harassment."

Naomi smiled and stood. "That's a good idea. Let's get down to the conference room."

Dean followed her out of the office and into the stifling board room, plopping into a seat next to Jo. She had Tweetdeck open in front of her, with one column on reactions to this morning's news, and one column on the tag #kswx. Every other reporter started trickling in, until they had to bring in the shitty chairs from the hallway.

When a sufficient audience had arrived, Zachariah, director of sales, stood.

"Good morning, everyone," he began.

The gathered staff replied with some decent energy.

Zachariah gave an exaggerated sigh. "Is that the best we can do? Let's try again. Good morning, everyone!"

His assembled congregants replied again, if not with more enthusiasm, but at least with more volume.

"Good enough," he said, rolling his eyes. "Before we get into the main topic of today's meeting, I just want to remind everyone about this weekend's Cherry Pie Festival! As presenting sponsors, it's very important that we show a supportive presence at the event. Please show up for however long you can. Have some pie! Have a beer! Have a nostalgic good time and play out the town's greatest hits!"

"We're totally not getting paid for that," a low voice said in Dean's ear, making him jump.

It was just Claire. Dean rolled his eyes, making a little "what do you think" face.

Naomi spoke from where she sat next to Zachariah. "How does the weather look this weekend?"

"The National Weather Service says --" Jo began.

"It will be sunny and perfect," Naomi finished.

Claire dutifully took down that note on her shitty little laptop, before asking, "Do we have a plan if it's not, though?"

Naomi smiled with thin lips. "We do have a plan, but we won't need it, because the weather will be sunny and perfect."

"Mm-hm," Claire replied in high pitch.

And with that, the pitch meeting began in earnest. Dean supplied a package idea about the town's only gluten-free bakery's preparations for the fest and a VOSOT about decorations picked up along the way. He then took the opportunity to completely fucking zone out.

It wasn't until everyone began packing up to get work done for the day when he tuned back in to see Jo showing him her computer screen. On it was a map of southern Nebraska and central Kansas lit up in highlighter yellow.

"Would you look at that," Dean said.

"Hastings just issued a tornado watch," Jo said, looking around the room. They were the last ones left. "Looks like Cas was right."

eat your dirty laundry - the hot mic au

Dean pulled into the KAZS station parking lot in the dark of early morning, headlights cutting through the inky blue. His four hours of sleep were doing him no favors, and as he walked in he knew the station's space-age coffee maker would be the only ting keeping him alive this morning.

If nothing else, waiting for the pressure boiler to heat up and espresso beans to grind gave him a moment to collect his thoughts. Only two more monthis til his contract was up, and he could renegotiate to move to dayside and maybe even get paid enough to move out of his brother's guest room. Only two more months and he could get to a market in the top 150 and get paid the same peanuts but get broadcast beyond northern Kansas and central Nebraska.

Grabbing his horrible coffee concoction from the driptray, he made his way to the bullpen to grab a rundown and bother whoever was in there. He brightened up seeing it was Cas, his favorite meteorologist.

"Mornin', sunshine," he said, leaning a bit too far into his space.

Cas didn't react. "Good morning, Dean. What does this sounding look like to you?"

Dean choked a little on his coffee. "Sounding?"

Cas sighed and turned around, rolling his big blue eyes. "It's when they send a balloon up and it measures air temperature and humidity."

Dean looked at the graph thing on Cas' computer. "It looks like a graph thing. And one of the lines goes up, and one of the lines zig-zags a lot?"

"That's what I was afraid of," Cas said.

"Yeah?" Dean asked.

Cas pointed a long finger at one of the lines on the graph. "When the lines intersect, it means the atmosphere is unstable, and severe storms are more likely. The more unstable the atmosphere—"

"The more severe the storms," Dean interrupted.

Cas slumped a little. "Yeah."

"Has the National Weather Service said anything?" Dean asked.

"The Hastings office is monitoring it, but it's not even 6 a.m."

Dean looked at his watch. 5:47. Shit. "I gotta get on the desk. I trust your judgement though. Knock 'em dead."

With that, he gave Cas a rough pat on the shoulder and headed out to the studio. Billie, the floor manager, waved him over.

"You read the rundown yet?" She asked.

Dean glanced it over. In the A block, his rights were getting stripped away, in the B block a kid broke a fishing record with a Barbie fishing rod. At least in the C block he would get to improv banter with Cas before doing it all over again at 7 a.m.

"Remember to smile this time," Billie reminded him.

Dean grimaced with all his teeth. "You got it." He walked backwards to take his place next to Jo behind the desk, clipped his lav mic to his blazer and put in his earpiece.

But the thing was, he could deliver all the vile news every morning with a smile. It was his job. Be careful not to alienate the geriatric ghouls who actually watch the 6 o'clock news, because it was his practiced neutrality or fuckin' Fox News. And as they came out of the B block into commercial, he didn't feel any more disillusioned than usual. And his favorite part of the morning was coming up: Cas.

Dean could see him in the control room, sharing a heated discussion with Naomi the news director. However it ended, it meant Cas came into the studio in a mood. As he took his place in front of the chroma key, the reflected green light set his features into a sickly pallor.

Cas looked over at him. "Dean. As journalists, our job is to tell the truth, right? Even if it's inconvenient?"

Dean didn't like where this is going. "Yeah, man."

Cas nodded, having made up his mind. "You've been a good friend at this station. Thank you for your support."

"Of course, I trust you. Cas, what—"

Billie cut in. "We're back in five, four—"

"Thank you, Dean."

"Three, ✌🏾, ☝🏾"

"I love you."

[befitandchase]

This thing is seriously scud sucking now! #weather #stormchasing #severeweather #kswx (at Satanta, Kansas) https://www.instagram.com/bowechomedia/p/ByLzPxHJHhQ/?igshid=e6gu6myvt4j6

[dript-crypt]

📸: me

[feel-good-stuff]

Blurry early morning

[imfuckingwasted]

You’ve reached a checkpoint in your journey.

You may rest now. ♡

[lyrakatz]

Some storms rolled through the area overnight so I decided to sit out back with my camera for a few hours and try my best to capture some lightning pics. Despite the impressive display, I didn't manage to capture that many shots I liked. That said, this one came out really well and I'm super happy with it. I'm also including a small timelapse I did of the storms as they rolled though. #⚡️ #lightning #bolt #electric #lightning #kswx #weather #kansasweather #wx #stormchasing #thunderstorm #dramaticsky #stormyweather #storm_scapes #landscapephotography #landscapersofinstagram #visualsofearth #landscape_captures #landscapephotography #landscapelovers #landscapehunter #canon #shotwithcanon #canonglobal #mycanonstory #teamcanon #CanonR5 #YourShotPhotographer (at Winfield, Kansas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVX-b60LuSP/?utm_medium=tumblr

[skyecoaiart]

Morning Beauty

[omgitsrenn]

Incredibly dangerous weather will be very likely later this week. #Snow is possible beginning Wednesday night and lasting through the daytime on Thursday, with the best chances for the worst of the #snowfall being late Thursday afternoon through early Thursday evening. Then on Thursday night, the temperature will drop to between -5 and -10 degrees, with predicted #WindChills in the Wichita area currently projected to be as low as -35. If there is one silver lining, it is that the temperature is not expected to rise back above freezing until around next Monday; which means that enough snow accumulation will bring us a rare White Christmas. Be safe! #KsWX #IctWX #KSstorms #WichitaWX #WhiteChristmas (at Wichita, Kansas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmWuck-O63Y/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[oleapinglizard]

My mumbles about how chilly it is. Also... Swipe to see... How... As the cold front went through, the winds were so strong, it smashed my sliding glass door. 🤬 Lol... #kswx #kansas #snow #goodland https://www.instagram.com/p/Bqlnr56ny_d/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1guoktoiv5t1p

[raychelsnr]

With spring right around the corner views, like this could become a reality in tornado alley. 5/24/16 Dodge City, KS

? @brettwrightphoto

#kswx #weather #nature